Tomato Tantrums

Uchiha Sasuke groggily rolled over to the shrill sound of his alarm clock, profanities slipping between his teeth. He slammed his fist down on the clock to stop its ear splitting shrills, untangled himself from the black sheets draped across his body and swung his legs over the side of the bed, resting his elbows on his thighs as he tried to remove the sleep induced fog from his mind.

"Dammit!" he groaned as his head continued to pound, even after the alarm had stopped. He was utterly trashed, last night he, Naruto and Kiba had gotten together to have a guy's night and then they decided to have a drink off.

"Stupid dobe, couldn't even have told me he was freakin' immune to alcohol!" Sasuke growled and forced himself to get to his feet. He crossed over to window and yanked the curtains open, resting his forehead against the warm glass as the morning sunlight filtered over his porcelain skin and shirtless chest. Somewhere in his subconscious he heard the faint squeaks of his neighbor who had happened to be passing her window, which was adjacent to his and had, saw him shirtless. Sasuke rolled his eyes and trudged to the kitchen.

'Tomato, I need tomato, now.' was his only thought; it was as if he was programmed to only process the red fruit called tomato during the mornings. It was his biggest secret, he was a tomato addict. Some people could not go through their mornings without coffee; he could not go through his morning without tomatoes.

The Uchiha ran his fingers through his spiky hair, which was even more untamed than usual due to bed head. As he neared his ever present stash, he could feel the energy begin to flow through his body at the thought of the red juice from luscious Tomato, his mouth was watering as he pulled open the cupboard door to choose from the mounds of gleaming red- it was empty.

"The fuck?!" Sasuke yelled, rubbing his eyes with his fists, he had to be dreaming! Up to yesterday he had at least four pounds of fresh ripe tomatoes, where the heck had the gone? Then it clicked. Naruto.

"Bastard! Che fuckin' dobe, I will get my Tomato revenge, this...this should be crime! robbing me of my tomatoes so freakin early in the morning!" Sasuke yelled, slamming his fist into a nearby wall, then glared at the said wall.

"What are you looking at huh? That's right nothing, cause there ain't no tomatoes!" The eratic Uchiha stomped back upstairs, snatched his phone from his bedside table and speed dialed Naruto. After five rings the phone went to voicemail.

"Argh!" Sasuke screamed uncharacteristically, anger creeping into his line of vision. Gritting his teeth Sasuke yanked on the nearest pair of shoes he could find, which happened to be beach slippers, Itachi's in fact, he never wore slippers, but he was too hungover to notice. Storming down the stairs, Sasuke stamped out the door and walked halfway down the block, in hot pink boxers adorned with tomatoes and blue beach slippers, to Naruto's apartment.

After a couple minutes Sasuke arrived at Naruto's front door, and in his eratic state of mind he simply kicked the door open and stormed inside.

"NARUTO!" he yelled, "I know you are there get your ass down here now, or I'll freakin murder you!" Instantly the familiar hoarse laughter of Naruto flitered down the stairs followed by its owner.

"Oi, oi teme what wrong-" Naruto stopped halfway when he saw Sasuke standing at the bottom of his stairs in full bed head, hot pink tomato boxers and slippers, glory. Naruto's eyes went wide then he burst into hysterics.

"Kami! What are you wearing Sasuke?!" Naruto gasped in between bouts of laughter then fished around for his phone and snapped a picture, this was a priceless moment. But Sasuke didn't seem to notice his mirth, he just stepped closer to naruto and grabbed him by the collar.

"Where the fuck are my tomatoes?!" He growled his eyes unfocused and hazy. Naruto grinned, his plan was working.

"Eh? Tomatoes, what are those?" Naruto asked innocently, blinking his blue eyes to complete the effect. Sasuke opened his mouth to let loose some profanities when Naruto interrupted, acting as if a light bulb had gone off in his mind. He even seemed to sparkle somewhat.

"Oh! You mean those shiny red things?! Why didn't you say so before?!" the blonde grinned wickedly "I threw them away, i thought they were poisonous." Sasuke stiffened as those rigor mortis had set in, even though he was far from dead.

"I threw them away, I threw them away," the deadly words echoed around Sasuke as his world began to crumble, how was he going to survive in a world with no tomatoes?! Falling to his knees Sasuke bowed his head as despair put his twenty tonne feet on his shoulders, his life was over. There simply were no tomatoes.

"M-my tomatoes, how will i survive?" Sasuke groaned from his spot on the floor, he felt like he was melting into nothing.

"Oh don't despair Sasuke-chan, Hinata has the last of the tomatoes in the world you should-" Naruto begun playfully but Sasuke was already gone, running at top speed down the road to the other end of the block and slammed his neighbor's door open, completely oblivious to the utter shock and embarrassment of the inhabitant.

Hinata buried her face in her hands, as she sat at her breakfast table, trying to forget the sight of an utterly shirtless Sasuke earlier in the morning. Her hands gripped her tea cup as her mind wandered back to the scene. The soft morning sunlight had glistened over his smooth rock hard abs that had been practically begging to be touched.

"What am I thinking?" Hinata groaned and smacked her head on the table, trying not to faint from the steamy scenes that had begun to invade her mind. Just as she was able to gather some semblance of her composure her front door slammed open revealing a sweaty, panting, hot pink boxer wearing Sasuke. Hinata barely had time to register this before her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted.

"Hinata, Hinata! Oi Hinata!" filtered through the Hyuuga heiress' fog of unconsciousness. Her mind slowly processed the frantic voice, it was Sasuke.

'What is he doing here?' she thought then everything came flooding back to her and her eyes snapped open and she bolted up right. She was met with the frantic face of Uchiha Sasuke, his hazy black eyes inches away from hers and his sweaty palms gripping her upper arms with his legs on either side of hers. It took all of her willpower not to faint again and Hinata managed to choke out a few whispered words.

"W-what a-are you doing here Sasuke-san?" she stuttered and the Uchiha grabbed her closer, a desperate look in his eyes.

"Please Hinata, I know they are the last in the world, but please I can't survive without them, please!" Hinata's mind swirled in confusion at the Uchiha's garbled words, she'd never, ever seen him lose his stoic composure like this...it was almost frightening.

"W-what are you talking about Sasuke-san?" she asked timidly, trembling from the all too close vicinity of his shirtless torso.

"The tomatoes, please I need them! Naruto said you had them...I-" Sasuke mumbled before he passed out on Hinata's lap. The heiress gasped, her heart fluttering wildly, but somewhere in her frantic mind she was able to register his answer. It surely explained the appearance of mounds of shining red tomatoes in her pantry when she woke up this morning.

Trying in vain to pull herself together Hinata got to her feet, gently sliding Sasuke to the ground and wobbled to her cupboard and grabbed three of the tomatoes. Before she could even get halfway to the entrance area of her apartment the unconscious Uchiha jolted awake, the smell of the juicy red fruits wafting into his nostrils and he rushed to the source of the scent not even bothering to take the fruits from Hinata's hand but ate it directly from her palm, his desperation over clouding any other senses. She gasped trying to ignore the fact that the infamous stoic Uchiha Sasuke was eating tomatoes from her palm! She could feel the soft wetness of his tongue against her skin and her mind threatened to overload and her face had invented a new shade of red.

The tomatoes were gone in seconds and Sasuke wasted none of the red fruit, even going as far licking the juice from Hinata's fingers before collapsing tiredly at her feet. Hinata forced herself to stay conscious by the counting backwards from one hundred in her mind then she hooked her arms under Sasuke's and dragged his frame over to her couch, struggling to lay his muscular frame on the soft furniture.

After she managed to get the unconscious Uchiha onto her couch Hinata grabbed a nearby throw and draped it over his lower body and torso, trying to preserve some semblance of his modesty, even though she wanted to sit and stare at his toned chest which was moving up and down as he breathed peacefully in his sleep. As she laid the throw over Sasuke's frame her eyes wandered down past his chest and to his hot pink tomato print boxers, they were quite intriguing, who would have thought that Sasuke would have hot pink boxers! A small giggle erupted from Hinata's lips but then she the reality of exactly where she was staring hit her and she gasped, heat flooding through her body and she squeaked and hastily backed away fleeing upstairs to the safety of her bedroom, slamming the door behind her before sliding unconscious to the floor.

One Hour Later

Sasuke stretched lazily, his couch was unbelievably comfortable at the moment, yawning he opened his eyes running his hand through his hair. Feeling completely refreshed he sat up, preparing to go about his daily motions when something caught his eye. Turning he finally noticed the other presence in the room. A nervous Hinata Hyuuga sat on the adjacent sofa, clutching her trembling hands in her lap.

'What? Why is Hinata in my house?' Sasuke thought confusedly then the rest of his surroundings seemed to come into view, he was not in his house. He did not have lavender sofa! then it hit him, he was in Hinata's house and following his instincts he looked down and groaned, he was only in his boxers, when had he left his house? Sasuke tried to sort through blurry memories of the morning then it hit him, Naruto had hid his tomatoes and in his tomato-less state he'd obviously gone crazy. Biting back the embarrassed groan that threatened to escape his lips he stood, gathering what was left of his dignity, forcing his stoic Uchiha mask into place and turned his black eyes to the girl sitting on the other side of the room.

Hinata watched as Sasuke stretched and ran his hands threw his hair, her face flamed and a small smile smile parted her pink lips, he was a lot like a kitten while under the fog of sleep. After he woke completely he looked around in confusion and she watched as he worked out what had happened in his head then he turned to face her, his black eyes hard and stoic and she breathed a sigh of relief, this was the Sasuke she knew.

"Hn, I'll be taking my leave then," Sasuke said in his best patrician tones, and promptly walked out Hinata's front door and over to his apartment, leaving the Hyuuga heiress spluttering and blushing from the rare view of his retreating form.

When Sasuke finally closed the door of his living quarters behind him, his knees immediately gave way and he crashed to the floor, holding his hands in his head. How was he going to live down this embarrassment?

"Damn you Naruto!" Sasuke growled in frustration, the only positive that had come out of this utterly humiliating situation was that he had reduced Hinata to a blushing mess. The Uchiha had been crushing on Hinata from their childhood days, but the feud between their families and his standoffish nature made him unable to act on his feelings.

'Ugh, she must think I'm a total weirdo now,' he thought, biting down on his lip in frustration, but he really didn't have a choice, he had to have those tomatoes. Sasuke propped his back against the door and leaned his head back, lost in his thoughts of tomatoes, a certain Hyuuga heiress and the usual morbid broodings.

A couple minutes later the heavy sound of Sasuke's ringtone jolted him from his thoughts and forced his body up off the floor and headed up the stairs, grabbing the phone from where it lay on his bed. It was Itachi.

"What?" Sasuke snapped irritably, his already nonexistent patience thinning due to the tomato humiliation earlier.

"Ah, Otoutou I just got the most interesting picture from Naruto," Itachi smirked, causing Sasuke to flush in anger.

"Fuck you! It's not my fault that tomatoes are that awesome, and besides its not like I looked bad in the picture anyway, boxers and all," Sasuke retorted smugly, trying to hide his humiliation.

"Hn, right," Itachi sighed, sending a virtual pat on the head to Sasuke, completely ignoring his angry splutters. "Well I didn't call to discuss your boxer situation," the older Uchiha cut in, his tone losing its playful lilt.

"Who would have thought," Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Hn, well Okaasan and Otousan are coming back to Japan in a couple days and they want to meet you..."

Sasuke felt as though someone had punched him in the gut and suddenly he began to feel dizzy, teetering dangerously before collapsing on his bed. Gripping the phone in his hand Sasuke tried to focus on his breathing, forcing himself to calm down, but his thoughts were a swirling mass of confusion.

"They want to meet me?! What the fuck?" he yelled into the phone, anger ripping through his body at an alarming speed. "Did the freaking forget that they abandoned me when I was just four years old? Simply because I was too much of a 'burden' at the time because they were so 'busy' with business."

"Sasuke..." Itachi trailed sadly, wishing he could smother his younger brother into a bear hug.

"Forget it, you can tell them I don't give a fuck and they had better not come anywhere near me!" Sasuke quickly ended the call before Itachi could reply and flung his phone down onto his bed in disgust. He had grown up under the care of his uncle Madara while Itachi lived in between their parents and their uncle. They had never once came to visit him during his childhood, they never looked back and now all of a sudden they wanted to meet him?

"Che," Sasuke spat, angry tears forming in his eyes as he stalked into the bathroom, slammed the door behind him and blasted the shower as high as possible, then removed his clothing and stepped into the raging water, letting it beat down on his back as he sobbed brokenly against the wall.

Sasuke sat listlessly on a bench in a nearby park, he'd forced himself to go grocery shopping and the bags now lay at his feet, but that had been at least five hours ago. He wasn't even completely sure how long he'd sat on the bench, his eyes blind to the scenery around him. Itachi had tried to call him back a couple times, even resorting to asking Naruto to talk to him but he really didn't want to hear it. Thoroughly engrossed in his thoughts Sasuke was oblivious to a pair of grey eyes sadly watching his brooding form.

Hinata peaked out from behind the tree where she had been hiding for the last couple of hours. She had been jogging in the park when she saw Sasuke sitting on a bench, holding his head in his hands and looking completely broken. She had quickly ducked behind the tree, fully intending to get her composure together and then approach him, but she couldn't bring herself to. Now the sun had begun to set and the park was slowly being cleared of human presences. Taking a deep breath Hinata slapped herself on the cheeks, squared her shoulders, pushed the image of a shirtless Sasuke to the recesses of her mind and walked over to where the Uchiha sat.

"A-ano, Sasuke-san are you alright?" she asked quietly, chewing nervously on her bottom lip and twiddling her fingers. For a moment Sasuke didn't even move, and just when she thought he wasn't going to answer her he looked up, sadness evident in his obsidian orbs.

"Uh yeah, sorry about earlier, I kind of have a tomato addiction problem," he said sheepishly his cheeks colouring slightly. Whenever he was around Hinata he immediately became out of character and rather nervous, and now that the weight of his parent's arrival was resting on his shoulders, it was even harder than usual to keep him stoic mask in place.

Hinata could sense that he didn't want to talk about whatever was bothering him and she decided to ignore his obvious evasion of her question.

"I-it's alright," she stuttered, her eyes widening a bit. Sasuke never apologized to anyone, ever. "I'm kind of like that with tea," she smiled causing his eyebrows to arch in surprise.

"Really? You get cranky and rather insane when lacking tea?"

"It's hard to believe, but it's true," Hinata replied softly, tea helped to keep her calm under the severe stressful situations that he neglectful father liked to put her under.

"You think? I seriously cannot imagine you being anything other than...well fragile?" Sasuke snorted, but then caught the hurt look that flickered over Hinata's face. He'd just stuck his foot in his mouth.

"Not like in a bad way...just..." he trailed, unable to put his thoughts into words, he was not good with expressing his feelings vocally.

"I-it's okay, I understand," Hinata said gently, an understanding smile curving her lips upwards. Gathering her courage she slid onto the bench next to him and they sat in silence for a few minutes, their hearts beating erratically due to their rather close vicinity. Then Hinata noticed a notepad lying on Sasuke's lap, she hadn't seen it earlier.

"D-do you write?" she asked timidly, her cheeks heating when Sasuke turned to look at her, black eyes meeting grey.

"Yeah, poems and songs."

"O-oh c-can I see? Imeanifitsnotabother," Hinata stuttered, rushing the last bits of her question together before she lost her courage completely. It was all she could do not to turn and flee because the images of Sasuke's smooth abs just refused to stop flashing in front of her mind's eye.

Sasuke hesitated for a moment; he never showed his poems to anyone because he hated showing the more vulnerable side of himself to others. But this was Hinata, she was different.

"Hn," he grunted, his voice thick with emotion and he was about to turn his head away when something red caught his eye and Hinata stretched out her hand to pick up the notepad and her long sleeve rode up, revealing her wrist. He instantly recognized the delicate gold bracelet with a small tomato charm; he'd given her as a birthday gift when they were kids. He grabbed her wrist, his much larger hand easily closing over her delicate appendage. She gasped slightly as he somewhat gently pulled her closer to him, cold fingers trailing over the gold bracelet. This bracelet was the reason why he was so addicted to tomatoes.

He had given her after he'd stood up to a group of kids who were bullying her. He'd meant to give her earlier but couldn't work up the courage and so after he'd fought the bullies he'd shoved his hand into his pocket and held out the gold bracelet, mumbling happy birthday. She had smiled at him, it was the first real smile he'd gotten since his parents had abandoned him, and suddenly his life hadn't seemed so empty and meaningless and the dark clouds of sadness began to thin. But because she was a Hyuuga he didn't get to see her, much less speak to her after that brief incident, but he refused to let the memory go and developed a rather obsessive taste for the red fruit.

Sasuke forced himself back to the present, loosening his death grip on Hinata's trembling hand.

"You kept it...after all this time?" he said quietly, his dark eyes staring hungrily into her grey ones. Hinata nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"Always," she whispered then tore her gaze away from his and onto the grocery bags at their feet. The fading sunlight glinted off her bracelet and into the red tomatoes at the top of one of the bags and she smiled softly, tears welling up in her eyes. He hadn't forgotten; he hadn't forgotten her.

A/N - hehe idea i got after Tay-chan (Taymor) challenged me, I hope you like! If everyone likes it i don't mind making it a chapter story. c: